With advancements in prosthetic components, improved suspension solutions have become a pressing need. Elevated vacuum suspension has been around for nearly a decade, and improves proprioception and volume control. The concept is well accepted and has gained many users.
Many known elevated vacuum solutions on the market rely solely on sleeves or reflecting liners for placement over a socket to achieve an airtight seal necessary for an effective vacuum. This mode of sealing, particularly sleeves, adds to material thickness over the knee and constrains knee bending dramatically for trans-tibial amputees.
A vacuum in the sense of elevated vacuum solutions refers to creating pressure significantly lower than atmospheric pressure. In prosthetic systems, a vacuum is not applied directly to the skin, but typically between the hard socket and the skin interface. The vacuum system is adapted to stabilize soft tissue volume at the residuum that the liner and hard socket surround and maintain more effective suspension of a prosthetic system.
A significant drawback to known elevated vacuum solutions is they fail to adapt to limb volume change which occurs particularly when a user is walking. Yet another drawback is that many known systems have a tendency to lose suction due to the method used to seal the socket and hence the vacuum formed. Many of such vacuum systems are bulky and significantly contribute to the weight of the prosthetic device, wherein the hard socket may be oversized to accommodate vacuum chambers, or additional attachments are used to supply or assist in vacuum generation.
In sleeve based systems, a sleeve is applied at the proximal end of the hard socket and the vacuum is often formed along the entirety or near entirety of residual limb covered by the hard socket. The vacuum is formed along the length of the covered residual (i.e., “above-knee” vacuum systems) and does not account for areas of the residual limb more or less prone to volume change. When the sleeve is removed, the seal is broken and the vacuum is lost. While valves may be used in combination with vacuum suspension, these solutions often lack means to quickly release the vacuum.
There is a need for a prosthetic device, system and method that provides freedom of vacuum suspension for a prosthetic system with no sleeve. There is also a call to provide a prosthetic device, system and method to minimize changes in the volume of a residual limb with vacuum suspension, providing secure vacuum without losing suction and confidence to the user over a period of use. There is a demand for applying a vacuum where it is needed, while still stabilizing volume and maintaining vacuum suspension. It is desirable for prosthetic devices to draw a vacuum while being lightweight and streamlined.